Joyride
by solsixtus
Summary: Holiday discovers that Six is just like any other man when it comes to speed, hot rods, and women. Holix.
1. Ready

"Where's Rex?"

In the hanger, Six was the only one exiting off the gunship. Hands in his pockets, he headed towards her in his casual, calculated stride and replied in the same manner.

"He's on a road trip with Noah and Bobo."

Holiday smirked at the fact that Six no longer hassled keeping a tight leash on his ward, not that she minded.

Rex needed his own downtime; he _was_ getting older. He needed to experience the world, outside of white walls and armed escorts. Even though the twinge of overprotection pinched her heart, she wanted him to. There really was no reason she should worry either. Noah was not one to intentionally look for trouble and Bobo would watch over both boys; in his own aberrant way.

"So, no dinner tonight?"

Six shook his head once.

Well, _her_ Friday evening just got cleared.

She was disappointed; the faux-family dinners were becoming less obligation and more indulgence. They were a nice way to relieve the stress of the week, and this week had her on her knees since Tuesday. A break was long overdue.

She accepted the change of plans with an understanding nod, but he was not fooled by the dismayed cluck of her tongue.

He seemed pensive of the action and stared at her shoes as he considered something. He returned his gaze to hers and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

"You hungry?" he asked, eyebrows inquisitively heightened.

Holiday crinkled her nose slightly and waved off his concern.

"Don't worry about it. I'll just grab something from the cafeteria."

"What are you in the mood for?"

She raised her eyebrows at his question and subsequent tilt of his head.

Did Six indirectly offer dinner _without_ persuasion? He was not obligated to feed her, or anything else for that matter. Holiday studied him, though she knew her scrutiny of the rigid man would yield unfavorable results. Years of joint guardianship over Rex with him created a familiarity with his subtle personality, and as time went on, she learned, he broadened his emotional range.

Like now.

His mouth pursed slightly in anticipation of her answer. Together with his tilted head, he mirrored Rex's usual inquisitive expression.

_Or_, Holiday began to wonder, _did Rex mirror him?_

Interesting...she'd have to remember to study that later. For now, at least, she answered him through a growing grin.

"_Hombre's." _

The plan had been Mexican tonight anyway.

A loose smile spread on Six's lips and he nodded in agreement at her choice. "Ok. Are you ready?"

She glanced down at her attire. Wrinkled, disheveled, and worn, she looked how she felt, and she did not want to step into a lively border town looking as such.

"Can I change? I am _not_ walking into Conchita looking like I spent all day in a lab."

Six nodded, whether or not he realized he truly had a say in the matter. He could wear that green suit out camping for all she cared, but she was not spending another minute in this lab coat.

"Five minutes," she declared to his retreating back.

The run back to her quarters was probably the fastest she ever made. It could have been exaggeration or enthusiasm. Probably both, but she dared to acknowledge that the secret thought of spending casual time with him added more spring to her step.

Holiday wasted no time replacing her professional apparel for something much more casual, leaving a trail of clothes from the door to her closet, where she pulled out a canary sundress collecting dust at the very end of the rack.

It had caught her eye several months ago in New York when she'd somehow squeezed downtime in the middle of a mission, but the tides had turned on her and there had never been any time or occasion to wear it since then. Until now.

She grinned as she put it on, enjoying the lively material loosely hugging her frame. Grabbing a cream colored cardigan to cover her bare shoulders, she plunged a pair of sunglasses into its pockets and simultaneously slipped on a pair of boots that topped her ankles as she headed out the door.

When she returned to the hanger, Holiday found Six leaning against the cherry-red body of the roadster instead of the jumpjet, and she stopped mid-stride as she took in the sight. They were travelling in _that_?

Six followed her gaze and stared at the hot rod, looking perhaps more annoyed than proud of the vehicle, then back at her.

He frowned, a confused expression appearing briefly on his features. "Is there a problem?"

She shook her head, failing to conceal a broad grin as she walked around to the passenger side. _Oh no. No problem at all._ Ever since he'd driven it into Providence's hanger after that failed unstable nanite assignment, she wanted to ride in it. Weeks had flown by, but he never even mentioned he had it.

_Why now?_ she wondered.

She hoisted herself up with her arms and slid into the bucket seat as Six did the same.

"You remember the way, right?" she asked him. Since they were traveling by land, she calculated the route to Conchita would take them an hour or so.

He nodded as he started up the roadster. In the seat, Holiday felt the jarring shudder course through her body and settle in her belly as the engine's roar reverberated in the base's cavernous main hanger. Every agent, scientist, technician, and mechanic in it tossed an approved glance in their direction as Six pumped the accelerator. Once, twice, three times, for good measure. By the fifth rev, a smirk started to tug at the corner of her mouth.

Was Six actually _flaunting_ his new ride?

The behavior was not indicative to him. From the unshaded corners of her sunglasses, she examined him with slight incredulity. With his abilities, prowess, and skills, he had never once showed the slightest hint of arrogance or cockiness and she searched for it on his face. But even as she did so and found only his modest and reserved expression, Six slammed the gear shift into first and gunned the engines. The roadster's deep rumble rose to a whiny pitch as they accelerated from zero to sixty miles per hour in less than three seconds, and Holiday was blasted back into her seat as they shot out the hanger's mouth and into the desert.

It was exhilarating. One hundred magnificent times better than she imagined.

She couldn't have fully envisioned the grandiose scale of nature whipping past them or generated the pure thrill of travelling at such high speeds mixed with the tiny fear that hitched in her throat at the danger of it all. She shivered, flattening her palms over her knees and gripped them. There was something visceral about it all, something about the engine's violent pulse that stirred primitive urges in her.

All her thoughts narrowed to this moment. No projects, no research, no reports. She was _here_, mentally, physically, enjoying everything as it came by.

They soon left the shadow of the high mountains surrounding the base, and the sun bore down unhindered on them from the mid-horizon. Holiday didn't mind it at all, welcoming the natural light after all her time bleaching under her lab's artificial ones.

For a while, they stayed on the lonely two-laned road of Route 79, and her excitement calmed as Six maintained the roadster at a steady speed. She finally glanced away from the valley's expanse and rested her elbow on the door, silently observing him.

As with anything he did, he drove with the utmost concentration. Jaw set and eyes straight ahead, Six remained his usual stoic self, but Holiday was determined to find an explanation to his sudden change in behavior, even if it was hidden in the subtle way he handled the car.

Yes, the roadster was the key, she was beginning to learn.

Why had he kept it? And why had he brought her along for a ride?

Holiday suspected there was an underlying reason to it all, but an obnoxious horn put her musings on hold as another vehicle travelled in the oncoming lane and came up beside theirs. The couple riding in the green souped-up hot rod gestured to them.

With a smile, Holiday waved at the bubbly blonde in the passenger seat as the man eagerly pounded out a series of honks from the steering wheel and pumped the gas, edging their car forward repeatedly to signify his intent to race.

She leaned forward slightly in her seat in anticipation, an equally contesting grin plastering her face.

This outing was getting better every second. Already, her excitement was returning and a competitive rush was coursing through her. She knew she didn't look the type, but she was _extremely_ competitive. In her field of work, she had to be, and she always had an urge to triumph whatever challenge was thrown at her. Even if she wasn't at the wheel, she was confident Six could beat this young couple who unfortunately did not know who they were dealing with.

Holiday looked to him now, hoping to gauge his response, but he remained rigid in the driver's seat, tie lapping over his shoulder, seemingly oblivious to the challenge. She nearly despaired at the sight. Did he not ever let loose? Why bother having this car at all if he did nothing with it?

And then, in the midst of her silent criticism, Six shifted into fourth gear, rocketing the roadster forward, and she saw a smirk tug at the corner of his lips.

**:::**

The roadster responded obediently to his commands, increasing its speed along the road as he pushed the transmission up a notch.

Any other day, he would have ignored the puerile contest, especially since he would already know the outcome, but he would entertain the brash young man today, if only for his passenger.

_Oh yes._ Her expression had not gone unnoticed. He had seen the glint in her eyes.

She wanted to win, and she knew that he would._ If _he decided to do it.

As the needle on the speedometer reared up past ninety, he knew it was her smile that had made the decision for him.

He smiled too, a gentle tug that quirked his mouth as they jolted ahead of the green hot rod, and Holiday couldn't resist a delighted laugh once she realized what he was doing.

Their lead was short-lived as the other vehicle reacted quickly enough and soon caught up to them again. Not bothering to glance at his new opponent, Six pressed the gas, keeping his eye on the approaching car in the oncoming lane. It was nearing rapidly, bulleting straight for the opposing couple who continued to test its approach. Instead of backing down like he was forcing them to, the couple sped up even further down the road and veered back into their lane in the nick of time, cutting them off.

Six smirked as he stared at the back end of the green roadster and shook his head.

_Interesting_. He did not expect such a daring competitor, not from this casual citizen at least. He wondered how far the young man would go. With an ego, a ride, and a young woman to impress, perhaps all the way.

In his peripheral, Holiday pursed her lips at the couple in front of them, unhappy with the turn of events. He didn't waste time for her arched eyebrow directed him, because the car in the oncoming lane just passed, and as soon as it cleared, he drifted across the yellow centerline into it.

He boosted to overtake their opposition again, but as he neared the other car, the sandy-haired man pulled the same maneuver on him and matched their speed to block him.

_Damn_. Six looked ahead to the other cars in the distance, a grey sedan in front of the green hot rod and red coupe coming up fast in the oncoming lane. He tried to speed up again to get back in the lane, but was blocked again as the competing hot rod pushed forward to close the gap between it and the sedan. Downshifting, he grimaced and reluctantly veered back behind them to avoid the coupe.

The narrow road was becoming much more worn and broken as they hurtled down it and the patter of loose chippings hitting the windshield after being tossed up by the vehicles in front of them was grating and derisive. He gritted his teeth. They had to get out of the turbulent wake.

He jammed the gear stick back and loomed in closer to the hot rod in front of them, gaining on them until only a hairsbreadth separated their bumpers; he was going to slipstream. He kept his eye on the needle as it rose again, preparing to pass his opponent the moment the coupe cleared. When it zoomed past them in the opposite direction, he crossed lanes once more, only to be cut off a third time by the green hot rod. They were stuck behind the silver sedan, boxed in by their opponent now with the full intent to prove that his gritty racer made of reshaped steel was superior to their fiberglass love child of a show car and souped-up dragster.

"C'mon, Six!" There was a competitive edge in her voice now, and he thought he detected a hint of some desperation as well. She _needed_ to win. He could see it in the way she bit down on her lower lip, in the way she braced herself on the dashboard and tapped her knee impatiently.

The green roadster sped up and pulled ahead of the sedan and Six used the opportunity to veer back into the oncoming lane and do the same, forcing their opponent to go into the defensive. The young couple zoomed ahead, determined to block them out.

Six took the blatant challenge. The terrain was flat and visibility on that desert highway stretched for miles. He could see the trio of trucks in a line coming up in front of the green hot rod, and the eighteen-wheeler coming down beyond them. If they were to win this contest, they had to get back in front of their opponent before they reached the trucks and _before_ the eighteen-wheeler reached them.

All it took was a moment for him to lay out all his options and make a final _winning_ solution. His ability to make quick assessments was far more skilled than their opponent's, of that he was quite certain. He took their position, the quickly closing distance of the semi barreling towards them, the conditions of the road, and even Holiday's unspoken confidence in him into consideration. All of them came down to one thing.

_Speed._

And with that settled in his mind, Six enthusiastically jammed the gear stick back into fourth and entered into a flat out drag as he pushed the roadster to its very limit. As expected, the young man in the green hot rod reacted slowly to his unexpected action and followed suit, continuing to keep them from gaining.

He paid no attention anymore to the other vehicle's attempts at dominance and focused only on the road ahead. The green hot rod reached the line of trucks, and when he continued past them Holiday began to understand his decision, uncertainty unhidden in her voice.

"Six?"

He glanced at her fleetingly as she peered at the truck looming ahead, catching even the young couple's fearful expressions of his potentially fatal decision.

He clenched his jaw, announcing over the wind, "Hang on."

Six gunned the engine, feeling the massive roar ripple through the roadster as the pedal hit the floor. His hands were steady on the wheel even as the car shook from the sheer velocity, confident this souped-up, frankenstein of a vehicle would hold together. It was _made_ for this.

Or was it?

His lip twitched at the deadly notion. What if he had miscalculated? The eighteen-wheeler drew closer with each passing second and they were only midway past the second truck. A miscalculation would mean death. Six cleared his head of the thought. It was too late for that now. He had to focus and hone in on the moment because their fate now lay on the razor's edge of his reflexes and the four seconds until impact.

One second passed.

They were at the back end of the first semi now. The driver of the eighteen-wheeler approaching wailed his horn.

_Two seconds_.

He could read the "Mack" on the front of the eighteen-wheeler now. Holiday braced herself with a hand on the dashboard.

_Three seconds._

Adrenaline coursed through him, drowning out the truck's blaring klaxon and Holiday's fearful shout of his name, but in the silence, he jerked the steering wheel to the left and brought the cherry-red roadster back into the safety of normal traffic.

Six released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. For a few seconds afterward, they continued down Route 79 and neither of them spoke. He returned to their speed to a much safer rate and glanced again at his passenger. She was still rigid in her seat even as the color returned to her face. He felt a pang of regret when he saw her hand in a vice as she gripped the chair, knuckles whitened from the intensity of it. He hadn't intended to frighten her.

He touched her arm in apology. "You okay?" he asked gently.

Holiday laughed and tucked loose strands of her dark hair behind her ear. "I'm great." She laughed again, and this time it didn't sound as forced. "That was great."

Still, he stared at her skeptically, eyebrows raised and furrowed in concern, and she turned away from him and looked to the distant mountains. After a moment, she relaxed in the bucket seat and dropped her shoulders as she let loose an exhale. She looked at him then, holding his gaze with her piercing and vibrant eyes briefly before tilting her head back even further for another gleeful laugh.

"I'm fine, Six. This is one fine ride you have," she told him, patting the side of the door.

Indeed it was. Six chose to ignore her change of subject and agree with her. This _was_ a fine ride. It was apparent in every single one of its features, from the immaculate paintjob to the custom motifs etched into the dashboard. Someone had loved this car. Not the bandit who had commandeered it, but the genius who had painstakingly crafted and modified every intake valve and cylinder. Six could see and appreciate the intrinsic beauty of it.

It sounded strange, the idea of him being keen to the simplicity of life when only focused on the importance of it, but he understood beauty when he saw it.

_Or did he?_ he mused.

He glanced at Holiday from the open corner of his glasses, smiling at something only she could see as the wind gusted her hair back. He could also agree there were much more beautiful things than cars.

Quite suddenly though, she straightened up from the door she rested her elbow upon and frowned at the upcoming road sign announcing the junction of Route 79 to Interstate 10.

"I think we're lost."

He looked at the road sign as well, unfamiliar with it in regards to getting to Conchita.

He licked his lips. "We're not."

Ignoring his assurance, she turned in her chair, shielding her eyes from the sun to peer into the distance behind them. "We were supposed to take a turn at Piedra Roja. I think we missed it."

Six knew he'd missed the turn, and he stayed wisely silent to her inquiring expression.

Holiday shook her head in disbelief. "This isn't one of those 'Men don't get lost' things is it?"

He thinned his lips at her insinuation to keep from correcting her. _Men _didn't _get lost. They went exploring_.

Clutching her temple, she sighed impatiently. "Just stop at that gas station coming up."

They veered off the main road and travelled down a thinner gravel-covered one to the gas station. It was a small, aged building nestled amongst some hills that shielded it from the afternoon sun. There were only four old pumps that saw considerably less use, ignored in favor of the newer brand-name gas companies partnered with franchised restaurants on the I-10.

Six parked near the wooden and tin building where an elderly Hispanic man who smiled politely at them sat on a bench in front of it. He looked at Holiday and she sighed.

"I'll ask him," she said, giving him a generous view of her long, slender legs as she hoisted herself out of the car.

Unknowingly, he trailed them as she walked away, only to guiltily snap his eyes back to hers when she turned around and leaned over the door.

Her eyebrow raised slightly and a smirk played across her lips when she pointed a finger at him. "But I'm still waiting for you to admit that we're lost."

* * *

**_A/n:_**

**Mwuahahaha**

Why is Six taking Holi on a spontaneous joyride? Or is it really spontaneous?

Will they ever reach Conchita in time for dinner?

Will Six admit that they're lost?

Find out next chapter!


	2. Steady

_**A/N:**_

Thanks to everyone for all the reviews and favs!

I've raised the rating up by one to T, from suggestion of Sempaiko. Next chapter you'll see why.

There's some Spanish dialogue in this chapter. Translated phrases are at the end. For all you fluent Spanish readers out there, I apologize in advance for my very crude and elementary Espanol

* * *

Holiday released a frustrated sigh as she walked away from the car.

Why couldn't he just admit that they were lost? Sometimes she didn't understand men and their antics. It wasn't that difficult a task really, just like asking this friendly man for directions.

With a mannered smile, he watched her approach, but she waited until she was closer to greet him so she didn't have to speak over the noisy gravel that crunched beneath her boots. He wasn't as old as she thought him to be now that she could clearly see his features, and it was his dark hair, still thick and youthful, that told his age better than his tanned, wrinkled face could.

"_Buenas tardes, Senor."_

"Oh." He was surprised that she spoke Spanish, clearly not expecting her to have, but he nodded with an impressed smile and replied, "_Y tu, Senorita."_

"_Me puede decir como llegar a Conchita_?"

"_Eres perdido_? Wrong turn?"

She shook her head and the smallest of smirks played on her lips. "Too much fun," she confessed. "Coming south from Route 79, did we miss the turn at Piedra Roja?"

"No." The man frowned. "_Se destruido._ Um..." He looked around trying to find the English counterpart. "It's been blocked off. _Providencia_. There _is_ no more turn at Piedra Roja," he explained.

Holiday sighed again, a tired exhale as she scratched irritably behind her right ear and shot a dirty glance at Six because he would, of course, be watching her. This was probably the reason he didn't want to admit they were lost, and it was very probably _his_ fault too. Or Rex's. Either way, he had to know about it. She made a mental note to ask him about it.

"Is there another way to Conchita?"

"_Si_." He paused and pursed his lips. "There are two actually, but I would recommend the first one. Go back onto the 79 the way you came and take the 55 through Higly."

She knew the way. It was a backtrack of their current route which brought them back again to Providence and in the opposite direction, which meant a nearly two and a half hour drive. She thought of the distance and the time. It was probably around five and the sun would not set until nine, but she didn't think they had that much time, unless they returned to the base and took the jet.

"Why not the second?"

"_Monstruos de lagarto_. Lizard monsters," the older man answered as if the words left a bad taste in his mouth.

Holiday nodded in understanding. She never really could get away from work, could she? After the perks of earlier, it seemed that now came the cons of this joyride. She smiled as politely and graciously as she could.

"_Un momento," _she asked and jogged the short distance back to Six. He raised his eyebrows in question as she drew near.

"We _did_ miss the turn at Piedra Roja," she answered and leaned on his door. "Because it was _blocked_." She paused to see his reaction; he didn't move. "By Providence." His eyebrow twitched and she tilted her head. "Care to explain?"

Six pursed his lips and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Not really. Did he give directions?"

"Yep. Back through Higly. He says there's a shorter way, though, but there are EVOs."

The information didn't faze him and he simply nodded as if it was nothing. "Ask him."

"You're fine with that?"

He only raised an eyebrow.

"Of course. I forgot who I was talking to," she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "But you know," she added, "We probably wouldn't have to take this way if _someone_ didn't block the canyon pass."

At her allegation, Six straightened up in his seat.

"I didn't," he clarified.

Holiday laughed. She couldn't believe that he'd deny this, too, because there was simply no way a man as meticulous as he would ever let important details slip from his mind.

The corners of his mouth fell and his brow dipped below the frame of his sunglasses. "What's so funny?"

"You," she answered honestly and she saw that both eyebrows were bent in confusion now.

She couldn't contain her mirth or exasperation any longer, not when she discovered that he fiddled with his tie when he was uncertain of things. When his mouth parted to release a sigh, she assumed he was peeved, perhaps even slightly offended.

She bit her lower lip. "I'm sorry, Six," she apologized, squinting at his shades to see his eyes, but only found her contrite reflection staring back. She shook her head in honest defeat. "I'm just trying to understand you. We go out on this ride and you still maintain the highest level of impeccability. Would it would it kill you to lose the tie at least?"

As if considering her question, he looked down at it hanging languidly over his shirt before tucking it back neatly under his jacket.

"What's wrong with my tie?" he asked.

The movement of his hand smoothing the thin cloth caught her attention, and she realized his tone wasn't chiding or challenging. He was sincerely curious of her opinion.

"Nothing is wrong with it," she answered truthfully. In her opinion, he looked great in it, even if it was the only other outfit she ever saw him wear, but surely even he could understand a dress down? Was fun even _in_ his vocabulary? Because the real question of his intentions continued to nag her.

Carefully, she posed the loaded question. "Why are we on this trip?"

He looked genuinely confused. "For dinner," he said plainly, as if it was the most obvious thing.

Holiday felt that bubble of exasperation overwhelm her again and shook her head in disbelief.

_This man, I swear_. He was either oblivious or uncaring. Not a comment on her dress, or her well-being, or even a reason for his spontaneity. Her mind was already drawing out possible conclusions for his unprecedented behavior this afternoon. Was he toying with her?

No, Six didn't play games. _Then again_, she reminded herself, _Six didn't race hot rods or go on joyrides. _

Very well. Maybe today was a day they would _both _do things they normally didn't do.

A sly smile curled on her face as she reached out and slowly ran her fingers on the lapel of his jacket. They curved around to the inside of it and fished out the tin mint container he had in his breast pocket. She kept her eyes locked on his, enjoying his perplexed expression from her sudden invasion of personal space as she popped a mint into her mouth.

"I'll get those directions," she grinned, patting the case after she returned it back to his pocket.

She strode back to the gentlemen waiting at the bench.

"Sorry about that. We'll take our chances with the shortcut."

He looked almost terrified at her answer.

"Don't worry about us, _Senor_. We can take care of ourselves."

The man glanced at Six for a moment, considering perhaps his ability to fight EVOs, and finally accepted her assurance and gave her the directions.

"Thank-you so very much," Holiday said through a broad smile. Truly he had saved then quite some time from wandering in the desert. Even now as she thought of it, she felt the heat creeping up on her now that they were not moving in the hot rod.

"Do you sell water?"

"_Si_." The older man nodded vigorously and rose from his chair, gesturing for her to enter the shop. "Inside."

She walked through the squeaky, paint-chipped door that he held open. The store was small, limited to only four freestanding shelves that cramped up the room, and a layer of dust covered every surface; it couldn't be helped in the desert.

He leaned against the counter and pointed to the rusted refrigerator at the farthest corner of the room that she soon discovered was also the most humid. Grabbing two water bottles and making sure they were sealed, she made her way back to the front of the store.

"How much?"

"No, no." The Hispanic storekeeper frowned at the cash in her hand and waved it away. "_Gratuito._"

"But-" She had done nothing to earn such a gift, and it made her feel terrible to accept it. She doubted he saw very many customers.

"Free of charge," he repeated.

"_Senor_," she implored. "I simply _can't_ accept that." She was going to deny a third time, when something caught her eye behind the counter, something she _had_ to buy.

"Let me pay for that at least."

He followed her finger to the item on the wall and smiled. "Ok."

Handing over her money, she paid for the item and offered the man her hand.

"Thank-you so very much, _Senor_."

He gave it a firm shake and a broad smile spread across his face once more. "No, thank _you_ for visiting," the gentlemen replied with a sincere nod.

Holiday exited the store, and with one last wave to the older man behind the counter, resolved to visit this gas station again in lieu of the fancier ones further down the I-10. For one, she suddenly had a special place in her heart for this dilapidated rest stop, and she also wouldn't have found such an awesome gift. She examined it more closely as she walked back to the car. It was _perfect_ for Six, but she wouldn't give it to him just yet, not until she got some answers from him.

Six was leaning on the roadster again, watching her approach, and she plunged her gift into her pocket.

"Got some water," she smiled at him. She watched him twirl the keychain through his fingers, and she noted that everything he handled he did so with skill.

He halted the keys midswing and returned her smile with a smaller one. "Thanks."

They both hopped back in the car and Six drove back onto the highway.

"Alright," Holiday explained, "he said get back on Route 79 north, turn at Brown's pass, and take Lemon Road straight to Conchita."

She loved that they were moving again and the desert scenery was zipping past. Six found the turn at Brown's Pass with no trouble and soon they were zooming between twin mesas that led them to Lemon Road.

Past the rocky formations, the land surrounding the road had considerably more vegetation than what she'd seen so far on this trip. Most were waist-high shrubbery and the rest Saguaro cacti that towered over everything else, until they traveled another mile down and then there were acres of dead lemon trees lining the road.

Holiday was amazed at the sheer size of the orchard and wondered how anybody could possibly maintain the vast amount of irrigation for it out in the desert. It stretched out for miles. Whoever used to own it must have realized this and abandoned the produce to fall victim to the hostile environment. Watching the lifeless trees pass silently made her ache for their sad fate.

She sat up in her chair.

Something _darted_ between the rows. Something big. A lump started to form in her stomach. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, a fallen trunk amongst the trees, but then her eyes saw it again as it kept up to their speed and she knew for sure what it was.

"Six."

"I see them," he murmured and sped up.

_Them?_ Her eyes only tracked one.

Then she saw the rest.

Four more shapes navigated through the orchard with deft coordination. They weaved between the trees, leapt over rocks, and kicked off of branches to launch themselves forward. One finally cleared the cover of the lemon trees and pursued them down the road, keeping perfect pace with the roadster.

"They're fast," she whispered to herself, studying every feature she could for future reference. The creatures were bipedal, but with very obvious reptilian biology. They were probably mutated from roadrunners or desert spiny lizards.

"How are we going to deal with them?" Holiday glanced at the speedometer and knew they were almost at their top speed. They couldn't outrun the EVOs who would certainly pounce on them once they stopped or slowed.

"We keep driving." Six tossed his head to the rear of the car. "There are some things you could use the trunk."

He was letting _her_ do the fighting?

_Today was certainly _not_ an average day_, she mused and turned around in her seat, gripping the headrest to anchor herself.

Holiday leaned over to pop the trunk and raised her eyebrows at the contents she discovered. Nestled in an unmarked, silver attaché case was a standard-issue tranquilizer rifle. Considering that Six never used guns, this spoke volumes.

This man was _always_ prepared.

Musings aside, she gritted her teeth at the wind whipping her short dress up, exposing all her assets to Six, the wind, and the elements, and right now was really not the right time to care about it. Slinging the rifle over her shoulder, she placed a clip between her teeth and knelt in her chair.

She slammed the darts into the chamber and targeted the closest EVO, aiming for the neck where its scaly epidermis was thinnest.

"Hold steady," she ordered.

Trigger engaged she was prepared to fire when the car suddenly lurched and so did she.

**:::**

The EVO on their left flank lunged for them, and he reflexively swerved to avoid it.

All too late, however, came the sound of talons scratching his door and his realization of the danger he had just put Holiday in.

She was falling out of the roofless vehicle, and quicker than he'd ever moved before, he reached out to grab a part of her where he could gain the most purchase, so his arm curved around the back of her thigh and his fingers sank into the warm flesh on the inside of it. Perhaps too strongly, he planted her back down into the bucket seat and she glared at him through wild eyes.

"I said _hold steady_," she hissed.

Still, she stood up again in her seat and prepared to fire the tranquilizer.

_Damn, this woman_. Did she not know that his heart hammered in his throat at her near-death?

Perhaps she did, because she tried to stabilize herself by pressing her body closer to the seat-back. She frowned when she discovered it had no real difference.

"Hold me," Holiday commanded, and he obeyed by locking his arm and elbow around her knee to steady her.

He heard the distinct hiss of the weapon discharging three times and the three thuds that accompanied them afterwards. She fired a fourth time and he heard her swear into the wind.

"_Damn_." Holiday spun around and trained the rifle at the EVO flanking them on her side.

A mere second passed, and the lizard disappeared from his peripheral. She was _good._

She corrected herself in the chair and glanced at his direction as she swept her bangs from her eyes.

Six couldn't resist giving her a smile of approval. Instead of a smile, she reciprocated by grabbing the front of his jacket and thrust him backwards into his seat as she shot a dart between the narrow space of his face and the steering wheel.

He sat in stunned silence for a second, even as he saw the last EVO fall from the side of the car.

It was his turn to glare now.

"Don't do that again," he murmured, referencing both the close call and her insistence earlier to stand in a moving vehicle.

She nestled the gun between her door and her chair and arched an eyebrow in his direction.

"I was going to the say the same thing."

For the remaining fifteen minutes on Lemon Road, the two of them stayed in companionable silence.

The road became increasingly worn and he did not have to look at the fading road signs to know they were nearing Conchita. The town grew rapidly as they drew near, tin covered roofs and washed-out wooden structures so engrained with desert grit they might as well have been made from the pervasive sand. Conchita was hardly considered a border town by his definitions. It was nowhere near Mexico, but it was one of those towns that was secluded enough from civilization it gave the illusion that one step into it was two steps backward in time.

Barely a century old, Conchita looked about the same as it did all those years ago; he'd compared it with archived photos and satellite imagery. The wooden and steel water tower greeted them at the edge of the sparse collection of buildings, just like it did in 1914 to visitors on horses and mules.

Six drove them past the General store and finally stopped at the white building next to it they were so familiar with. _Hombre's Restarante y Auto shop _was the reason Six even knew about Conchita; to keep up with Rex's Friday "family" dinners every week. He wasn't quite sure if it was Bobo or Rex who brought it up, but _somehow_, they had stumbled across here for authentic Mexican cuisine and _all_ of them enjoyed it.

Holiday jumped out of the roadster before he could even set the emergency brake, taking quick long strides to the restaurant.

He took his time joining her, observing her mildly from the roadster. She was really enjoying herself this afternoon, barring the EVO attack, of course, and he was glad he could help get her mind off this past week. It had been grueling for all of them. Endless EVO attacks, which of course meant endless reports on top of their normal responsibilities.

He watched her smooth her dress, trying to flatten the wrinkles out of it from sitting too long. He didn't understand why she fussed with it; it looked perfectly fine. _She_ looked perfectly fine in it as it draped gracefully over her body, not tight or folding and rigid like her normal lab attire.

Six looked down at his tie, remembering her comment about his obstinate apparel, and considered it. Maybe if he actually did what she suggested, she'd forget about trying to get him to admit they had gotten lost. He loosened his tie with two fingers and shook his head. It was becoming very apparent to him that she loved taking him out of his comfort zone. With a sigh, he shrugged his jacket off his shoulders, and after draping it neatly on his chair, went to join her.

"_Buenas tardes_, Pedro!"

_Hombre's_ owner peered up from the grill behind the high counter of his open kitchen trying to recognize her voice. Holiday slid off her shades, resting them on the top of her head and smiled at him.

Pedro's tanned face split into a broad grin. "My favorite customers!"

She leaned on the counter with her elbows. "How've you been?"

"Good, good." He paused to flip the food he was preparing. "And you? I love your dress. _Es bonita_."

"Thank you," she replied. "_El no ha dicho nada acerca de ello_."

Six didn't catch what she said to the cook, nor could he really understand it, but he knew it had something to with him when she jerked a thumb in his direction. Pedro followed her thumb and frowned at him for a split second.

"Seis!" he hollered with a smile again and waved enthusiastically. "_Que pasa_?"

Rolling up his sleeves, he joined Holiday at the counter and smiled with a nod. "Doing well." He didn't appreciate the translated name, because it reminded him of another man with a Spanish number for a name, but it beats Rex's insistence for Pedro to call him _Ninero._

Pedro accepted his answer and wiped his hands on his stained apron. "Shall I whip up the usual?"

By "usual" he meant thirty tacos; fifteen soft and fifteen crunchy, ten burritos, six quesadillas, and depending on what Rex was in the mood for, twelve taquitos. That's not including the various salsa and guacamole that accompanied their order.

Holiday shook her head. "No it's just us today."

"Where's Rex?" Pedro peered through the mosquito net looking for the teen.

"Out having fun."

Pedro looked slightly disappointed at the news, but still clapped his hands. "So what are you having then?"

Six listened to Holiday give her order in Spanish, never having properly done so any other time. Her accent wasn't perfect but she was clearly fluent in it to have excellent pronunciation. She'd mentioned once it was something she learned when she was recruited for Providence.

She turned to him and gave him a double take, a sly smile pulling her lips at his undress.

"What are you getting?"

"I'll have the ah, Choriqueso torta," he replied, not bothering to attempt proper pronunciation.

She grinned broadly now, thoroughly amused at his lack of proficiency.

The Hispanic cook was already sorting ingredients on the table. "Alright, I'll get your torta done first, because I need to get more eggs." He turned around and shouted to the doorway behind him. "Joaquin!"

Pedro's son appeared immediately at the doorway. "Yes?"

"Can you run back to the coop and get a dozen eggs? Make it quick." He inclined his head to his customers and Holiday waved at the boy.

The lanky teen returned her wave with a polite smile and left the kitchen. Six could see him sprinting to wherever the coop was, catching glimpses of the boy between the different buildings.

"I see you didn't come here in your plane," Pedro chatted while he chopped up a slab of meat and gestured with his cleaver at the roadster. "Is it yours?"

"Yes," Six answered.

"It's nice," he complimented with an approved nod. "Y' know if you ever need a mechanic or someone to fix that paintjob you can call me," he said and flashed his best smile.

Six smiled too. "Sure."

Joaquin returned with a basket full of eggs and placed it on the table for his dad.

"Thank you, _mijo_. Hey, what do you think of that hot rod. Nice, huh?"

The raven-haired teen looked over the counter at it. "Yeah. Very nice." He frowned for a moment. "What happened to the door?"

Holiday answered him. "We took Lemon Road to get here."

"_Jesus Maria_!" Pedro stopped his frying momentarily and both he and his son had the same shocked expression. "You took Lemon Road? How did you get past the EVOs?"

"With her shooting," Six admitted, and daringly, he placed his hand on the small of Holiday's back briefly to show his regard.

She was startled at first of the unusual contact, but she gave them all a sheepish smile.

"Wow. I'm impressed. I'll make sure not to get on your bad side," Pedro joked.

_A wise decision_, Six thought.

Pedro and Joaquin finished wrapping up their meals and placed them on the counter. Six paid for the food, adding a generous tip.

The cook frowned at the extra money. "What's this?"

"Just a tip."

Pedro looked unsure of accepting the large amount, certainly a lot more than the price of the food.

"Or, you can save it for when we come back to get the paintjob fixed," Six assured him.

"Ok." Pedro's smile grew. "Maybe we can put some flames on it, huh?"

Holiday seemed to like that idea and laughed at Six's expression. "I think that would be great."

He didn't really agree with her.

"Anyways, it's a beautiful ride," Pedro continued. "But you know," he paused and turned to Six. "You should pay more attention to what rides in it," he suggested and winked at Holiday.

With a knowing smile, she grabbed the food. "Thank-you so much, Pedro. We'll come back soon. Most likely with Rex, so be prepared."

Pedro chuckled. "Joaquin and I are always up to the challenge. _Adios_."

Six nodded his farewell and started walking back to the car.

"Going back home then?" Holiday asked. She sounded slightly put off.

Across the roadster, he looked at her anticipating expression. "Not yet."

Her eyebrows shot up. 'Where?"

With his gaze locked onto her vibrant eyes, he couldn't resist mirroring her delighted grin

"Some place you'll enjoy."

* * *

**A/N:**

Gratuitous Spanish:

"_Buenas tardes, senor_." - "Good afternoon, sir."

"_Me puede decir como llegar a Conchita_?"- "Can you tell me how to get to Conchita?"

"_Eres perdido?"_ - "Are you lost?"

"_No, se destruido."_ - "No, it was destroyed."

"_Piedra Roja_"- "Red rock."

"_Providencia_"- Lol "Providence"

"_Monstruos de lagarto_"- "Large lizard monsters"

"_Gratuito_"- "Free of charge."

"_Ninero_"- "nanny (male)"

"_Hombre_"- "man"

"_Es bonita_"- "It's beautiful."

"_El no ha dicho nada acerca de ello_."- "He hasn't said anything about it."

Soooo:

1. What do you think Holi bought at the store?

2. Where is Six taking her?

Also fun facts from last chapter:

I used my little brother's toy cars to reconstruct the drag race, complete with green and red cars and trucks.

I seriously have a whole page of calculations to try and figure out the actual time and distance it would have taken Six and Holi to hit the truck but then I just went for theatrics and went with four seconds.

Conchita is the name of my aunt.

I watched a documentary on American Hot Rods, Bullitt, the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull and looked up pics from the Thomas Crown affair for research on this. Also, a hot rod and a roadster are two different things, but for the sake of ease I use the terms synonymously.

The I-10 is a real interstate that runs from New Mexico, through Arizona, to California, all the way up to Washington. I speculate that Providence is somewhere in Arizona/New Mexico, so I've used a ton of real life roadways, plants, and animals in this story.

The "Men don't get lost line" is what Rex originally used in the ep "Badlands." I wanted to show how much he is influenced by Six and probably learned it from him.


	3. Go

_**A/n: Thanks everyone for all the super-special awesome reviews! They are the best thing in the world to me (besides cheesecake). I apologize for the long wait, but exams and real life. You know how that goes. This chapter was difficult for me to keep a low rating. The story itself is meant to be more light-hearted than what I usually write for Holix or G-rex.**_

_**Sempaiko, remember when you suggested I raise the rating? Well, this ending was extended just for you. XD.**_

* * *

Six's words intrigued her. Where exactly was he planning to take her?

Holiday _had_ to know.

She was a scientist. She _had_ to solve equations, dissect information, seek out answers. The quest for knowledge was ingrained into her, into every nanite that resided in her cells.

With newfound determination, she perused him from the corner of her eye, forcefully trying to understand the recent motives of a man she's been frustratingly trying to comprehend for _five years_.

It helped in no way that the man had the best damn poker face in the world.

_The very best_, she grudgingly reminded herself, and he was not letting today be any exception, even when an unusual quirk was replacing his usual frown. With Six, his mouth conveyed the emotions his shielded eyes were prevented from telling; lips thinned when he was disappointed and jaw clenched when he disagreed. That irksome tug at the corner of his mouth, like he was amused at a thought that was unknown to her, was _new_, and skewered her calculated formula she had assigned for understanding him.

She released a strangled scoff that was swallowed by the wind, the very same wind that upturned his collar so she could view his strong chest. _Not _helping her in the slightest.

Forcefully, and grudgingly, she returned her focus to the scenery of which, most of the time, she only had an aerial view of from the Keep or a jumpjet. It was so vast and open, unhindered by concrete buildings, tiered freeways, and noisy cars. The information churned in a mental centrifuge until it settled in her thoughts, and suddenly she loved being out here with him, experiencing life.

She breathed in the dirty, cinnamon desert air, finally resolving in her mind that she liked the gritty, earthy scent, but only when traveling like this. Having fun. _With Six_.

Never would she have used those words together before today.

The roadster whined down when Six slowed to turn them onto an unpaved road off the highway, oversized hind wheels tossing gravel in the air, leaving a gigantic, dusty wake behind them. It was unmarked, and Holiday straightened in her seat to examine the new surroundings.

The desert amazed her by proving how it could be so drastically malleable. Not even a mile from where they pulled off, the scenery changed, like a new slide, replacing the barren expanse with cluttered outcrops of rock formations angrily jutting out from the ground. Six took them another two miles, twisting and circling the earthy towers until they disappeared and the ground dropped off into a deep canyon.

Even before the car came to a complete stop at the cutoff, she stood up in it, removing her sunglasses from her face to fully examine the sight. The slowing setting sun bled its rays on the canyon, soaking the sandstone walls in a kaleidoscope of colors; amaranthine, magenta, crimson, sienna, vermillion, and every value in between. It was breathtakingly beautiful. She wondered how it compared to the Grand Canyon, which she, sadly, had never seen. Considering Providence was in the Southwest, it was an insult that she had never seen anything like this until now. Her stomach growled, distracting her from the scenery. If the annoying human trait of hunger didn't pang through her, she would have stared for hours, and she resignedly sat back down to quell it.

"How did you find this place?" she asked, not even caring she sounded as exuberant as Cesar in the midst of new data.

A tug at his lips, Six seemed pleased with her reaction, no trace of annoyance on his features because she had stood up in the roadster again.

"I spotted it from the jumpjet."

_So_, she wasn't the only one who had found an appreciation for the desert. His answer made her aware of another layer of depth to him, one which she never considered before, and she felt they stood on a level of equal understanding for once.

Pulling rebellious strands of hair the wind tossed up behind her ear, she offered him a provocative statement on the subject. "It's a whole different perspective."

Six turned his head to face her fully, nodding with a rare, candid smile. "Completely."

Perhaps it was the way he had said it, laden with unhidden emotion, or perhaps it was because his attention shifted, appreciating _her_ now, but she found herself locked in his gaze. She formulated that the hitch that developed in her chest was from the altitude, but her brain knew it was incorrect.

Intentionally or not, Six broke their eye contact when he began to distribute their food. Her hunger was taking priority to everything and she appreciated the shift of subjects. They ate in companiable silence, both equally hungry enough to put speech on hold.

She had ordered Chile Relleno, Pedro's favorite dish to make he'd once said, and she could tell it was too. His recipe was as traditional as it got, stuffed poblano peppers dipped in corn masa rather than fried in egg batter that was a popular variation in franchised restaurants. It was an honest meal made by an equally honest man and she enjoyed its rich flavor.

Holiday wiped her mouth as Six finished up his torta and did the same. Amused, she watched his meticulous post-meal ritual. Folded down a quarter inch, his napkin pressed against his mouth, lifting off oil his tongue couldn't swipe off his lips. The napkin was creased a second time- down the middle- as he patted the corners of his mouth. A third fold returned the napkin to a modest square which he finally tossed into the now empty food bag. Holiday knew he wasn't done yet, not until he fished the mint tin from his breast pocket, popped one into his mouth, and offered her one. He'd learned long ago not to offer Rex one.

As always, she accepted. More often than not, it was out of habit, but she had grown used to the unusual flavor of peppermint and something else she was still unable to identify. And another thing she'd learned: he never offered them to anyone else. Maybe she always recalled this information because of peppermint's natural tendency to enhance memory and recall. Already, the mint was half dissolved on her tongue and she wondered what parts of today would imprint permanently on her already exceptional memory.

She cleared her throat. "So, why the roadster today?"

She was still intent on getting answers from him. The question was as innocent-sounding as she could make it. A slightly inquisitive brow furrow and interested glance around the vehicle's interior should be able to deter his suspicions.

Six didn't answer immediately, and even though the mint tin was already in his pocket, he still fiddled with it. Apparently, it was important enough to require his full attention. She wondered if he was stalling.

Satisfied the tin was secure in his jacket, or perhaps, because he had finally construed a viable answer, he shrugged. "Hadn't taken it out in a while."

A shrug. Interesting, but insignificant. She tried another question.

"So you've taken it out before?"

He shrugged again. "Once or twice."

Holiday raised an eyebrow this time because Six _never_ shrugged twice, if ever. He was direct, clipped, terse. Never unsure. Her next question had to be carefully scripted.

She feigned uninterest and ran a finger on the windowsill of the door, leaving an immaculate trail through the dust on the body.

"Gotten lost?"

She flicked her eyes to his face just in time to catch his expression. His lips twitched, lost in the decision to purse or smirk.

"Not those times," he answered just as carefully, and she knew he had seen right through her ruse.

Lips slanting upward, Holiday also knew she had finally gotten an answer.

"See, now that wasn't so difficult to say."

Six perked an eyebrow, unwilling to tell her just how difficult it really was, and rolled his tongue over his lips. "And you have something in your pocket," he countered.

Her smirk grew wider. So he had noticed. He thought he was clever by putting her on the defensive. Perhaps if this were a physical competition, he would win, but this was not. She was a scientist and a _woman_. Mind games were her specialty.

The angle of the sun backlit his shades and she could track his eyes perfectly, where they looked, where they lingered. She followed them to her legs, more exposed than ever, courtesy of shorter boots and a shorter hemline.

Holiday crossed her legs, the action sliding the edge of her dress, and his eyes, higher up her thigh.

"Has that been bothering you?"

Briefly alarmed, his eyes flicked back to hers, but then there was a glint in them not coming from the sun and he cocked his head.

"Should it?"

_Damn_. She forgot how good he was at this. Because Six, a man of few words, was _adept_ at hidden meanings. Sixth deadliest man or not, she wasn't going to lose to him. She moistened her lips as slowly as she could, watching his face for the reaction of her next move.

"It's for you."

Six blinked, disoriented and lost in the meaning of their _double entendre_. His eyes darted; to the dashboard, to her thighs, to the gear shift, to her eyes. He swallowed roughly.

Victorious, she offered him only a sly smile and pulled out what she had in her pocket.

**:::**

He wondered what she meant. _Truly_ meant. Because he _knew_ they were not talking about what was in her pocket. He meant it when he said he didn't have a clue with women.

He _meant_ her.

Even now, when she presented to him the item of mystery, he didn't understand her actions. Apparently, he had to _earn_ his gift by either admitting he had gotten them lost or that he was a man. He wasn't quite sure which. Through her fierce determination, he had admitted both.

"I saw this at the gas station and knew I had to get it."

Six looked at what she held in her hand. It was a green solid-color six-ball from a billiards set.

"It's a gear-shift knob," she explained, turning it over so he could see the hole drilled on the bottom and handed it to him.

He rolled the ball in his palm, feeling the weight it still maintained despite the hole. She couldn't have made a better choice with this. He hadn't touched a pool cue in years, nor even remembered the last time he had used one to actually play a game, but the six-ball matched him so _well_. It had a six numeral etched perfectly in the middle and was the perfect shade of green. It was the perfect addition to the roadster.

"Do you like it?" Holiday asked, full lips gently parted as she leaned forward a hair's breadth. Her vibrant eyes anxiously searched his own for his answer.

A full smile reassured her that he did. He_ loved _it.

"I do."

Handing it back to her briefly, he unscrewed the original gear-shift knob and replaced it with the new one.

Holiday leaned back to examine him in the driver's seat.

"It adds personality," she commented pensively, and _he_ examined her in the passenger seat, heeding Pedro's not so subtle advice. In her loose, yellow dress, she accented the maroon interior beautifully. The new gear-shift wasn't the _only_ thing that added personality to the roadster.

"Thank- you."

She tucked a lock of hair behind an ear, something he learned was a habit of hers. If it wasn't pushed back in irritation, it was fiddled with in nervousness. She smiled shyly.

"Thank you for this," she gestured to the canyon.

He shrugged as if it was nothing, because truly it was. "You're welcome."

Removing her cardigan, she climbed out of the roadster and stood on the cliff to peer at the landscape. He did the same, the gravel crunching under his shoes as he walked around the roadster to join her. For a minute, there was only silence between them, and he leaned carefully on the red body of the hot rod, taking the opportunity to study her.

In all honesty, this was what he had been looking forward to all afternoon. When he'd seen it during a flyby, he knew he had to take her here. He had it perfectly planned, from Rex's road trip to dinner up here, and the unexpected detour had him worried the sun would set before he could show it to her. But here they were. She was fully enthralled with the scenery, and the expression that graced her face when she saw it was worth it, worth all the trouble they went through today to see it.

Rarely did he see her in such a normal setting. It was always laboratories, battle zones, and conferences. Always concentrating, always working. Here, she was simply enjoying herself, and he was content just giving her an afternoon in which she could.

"This is beautiful," she sighed, as if the breath-taking view had literally done just that. She whipped around, eyes alight with a new idea. "We have to take Rex out here sometime," she said, but then her lips pushed forward in a pout and she discarded the idea all together. "On second thought, he'd probably complain about taking him out here to see rocks."

She walked the few steps back to the roadster and rested next to him.

"That's why I took you," he admitted. The light scent of her perfume picked up by the wind as she walked the few steps back to the roadster threw him off.

"But," he continued, "I think you're judging him too harshly. He's getting older, learning new things, noticing old things."

She arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, the kind of one she reserved for him when she didn't approve of something he did.

"What?"

Holiday shook her head and glanced at her feet before looking back at him. "I'm not even sure. Did we just switch roles from caretaker to handler? That sounded like something I would've said to you."

That's because it _was_ something she'd told him, only he wasn't going to tell her that. She was peering at him from the corner of her sunglasses, observing him like the scientist she was.

"Rex is...Rex," Six answered plainly. "I'm noticing we're both influencing him, and he's influencing us."

She squinted at him now, suspicious of his sudden revelation. "_How_ has he influenced you?"

Even through her sunglasses, he could feel her scientific gaze, and it occurred to him in that moment just how much she took pleasure in dissecting things. Especially people. A new sympathy formed in him for any EVO or animal ever to be victim to Holiday's scalpel.

"To be more...spontaneous."

That same sly smile she'd been favoring all afternoon spread across her face again, and he knew she was about to pounce on his answer and tear it apart.

"You're telling me this joyride was spontaneous?" Holiday turned her head and shared a smile with the wind before continuing. "I think Rex needs to teach you to lie better to me, because that was _horrible_."

Was it really so terrible? He was finding his ability to lie to her was severely hampered. He blamed the dress. It twirled around her when she moved to stand in front of him, molding to her hips and becoming a bigger distraction when it danced with the wind.

"You _planned_ this," she stated, eyes alight with knowing.

"Why?" He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of being right, not yet at least.

"Because," she started with the tilt of her head, displaying the delicate curve of her neck and collarbone. "You have the car, the speed. All you needed was one more thing."

Barely able to contain his widening smirk, he perked an eyebrow to urge her to finish.

"Which is?"

"A beautiful woman in the passenger seat." Her smile was triumphant and sure, and she lifted up her shades to peer up at him for his answer, green eyes as vibrant and mesmerizing as ever.

"You flatter yourself too much, Doctor."

She playfully slapped his chest and pushed him away in mock disgust. "You ass."

He supposed he deserved that, but he couldn't resist returning her banter.

"So then, why ask me to accompany you?" Her voice was softer and she tilted her head slightly. His eyes flicked down to her lips as she moistened them, and he dropped his arms to his sides, changing his tactics like her. He was not going to fall so easily to her charm this time.

"Unless, of course," she paused and took a step closer to him. "That really is your reason." Her voice was at its lowest and smoothest, dropping so that he had to lean closer to better hear her, and he realized his mistake only when she had her hands on either side of him, resting on the door, trapping him in her question and with her body.

_One_ sentence from her, and he already failed. With her body so close to his, Six reconsidered his mentality. Was it _really_ such a failure now?

He responded by placing his hands on her waist. "It is."

Holiday hummed approvingly and neatly wrapped her arms around his neck, as if deciding that was where they belonged.

Six _knew_ that was where they belonged, because without her heeled boots, the distance between their lips was even greater and she had something to use as leverage to close it.

Her lips were soft and warm, still lingering with the spicy heat of pepper, and it heightened his senses of her. She smelled like apples, as sweet and fresh as the feeling of her skin against him. When she pulled away slightly to catch a breath, she dropped back down on her heels, glinting eyes locking with his as she released an amused laugh at their height difference.

He chuckled too. He hadn't foreseen four inches of space throwing off the best part of his plan, but he was confident between her sharp mind and his sharp reflexes they'd find a solution. For now, he settled for pressing his hands against the small of her back to hold her as she stood on tip-toe again to press an eager kiss to his lips. Her mouth moved insistently over his, trying to enjoy as much as possible before her calves ached under the strain of lifting her. Six indulged her, slipping his tongue past her hungry mounds to stroke against her own.

Holiday pulled herself closer to him, running her nails through his short hair at the nape of his neck, making him shiver despite the heat of the desert. He felt her smirk when his grip tightened on her hips and her delicate fingers started tracing slow circles on his skin exposed through his open collar. He nearly groaned, reluctantly letting her back down to the ground.

She still wasn't making this easy for him. It was bad enough her dress was fraying his self-control, and now she _knew_ it too. Somehow, in the course of this afternoon, he had lost his leverage over her, somewhere between getting lost and their gift-sharing, but he was perfectly fine with it. Just like he was perfectly fine with her arms wrapping around him as she rested her head on his chest.

For a moment there was nothing but the wind rustling between them as they held each other, his chin buried in her dark hair as she stared at the canyon, a content smile on both their faces. After a while, Holiday looked away from the landscape and smiled up at him.

"Thank-you for this," she repeated and tip-toed once more to give him a quick peck.

Six's smiled grew. "You're welcome. Are you ready to leave?"

She nodded, and he fetched her cardigan from the seat. After she put it on, he helped boost her into the roadster.

"Will we have more rides like this?"

"I'm not sure," he confessed as he walked around the car to the driver's side, and he smirked when he saw her slightly crestfallen expression. "You're too much of a distraction for me. Especially in that dress."

Her eyes darkened and her sly smile returned. When he landed in his chair, she climbed over the console and lowered herself onto his lap. Six sucked in air through his teeth slowly as his hand tightened over the gear shift.

She was _definitely_ not making this easy.

Holiday slung an arm on his shoulders and placed her other hand on his chest. "Let me drive then," she suggested. Or extorted. His mind wasn't working properly.

She shifted slightly in his lap, and his hand moved from the gear-shift to her knee to keep her from moving dangerously over him.

"I'm not _that_ distracted," he chuckled, nervously turning his head away from her, though the action only made him miss her impish grin.

"Not _yet_," she whispered silkily, breath hot and lips ghosting over the shell of his ear.

_No._ As difficult as it was, he wasn't going to fall for her tricks a second time. He started counting backwards from ten and only got to nine when she nipped his ear and shattered his concentration.

_To hell with self-control,_ he thought. He would demonstrate to her that he could play dirty too. He was a man, after all. The sixth_ most dangerous_.

Six tilted his head back to hers and caught her lips roughly, crushing, almost bruising them. He relished the soft moan she gave, approving of his roaming, delving tongue. Holiday's fingers strangled his shirt, manicured nails scraping against his shoulder through the fabric. His hand slid up her thigh, spanning the fleshy fullness of it until they disappeared under her dress. She worked her lips needingly over his, her teeth grazing his bottom lip, but he ignored her request and brought his lips down to her throat.

He nuzzled up the sensitive skin, leaving a trail of kisses, and even though his life as a cold blooded killer was well behind him, the habits and fascinations of his depraved lifestyle did not. With his thumb resting over her carotid, he felt her pulse quicken, felt how her body involuntarily responded to him. Holiday arched, sighing over his shoulder, breasts shoving against his chest.

Now it was his turn to smile slyly at her, especially since his hand had reached the top of her thigh. She locked eyes with him, waiting with a growing grin for his next move. He gave a gentle squeeze, only for her to hiss unexpectedly when his fingers pressed tender skin. Frowning, she inched up her dress so they could both see the problem, four dark bruises from when he had caught her earlier.

He cringed. He didn't think he had grabbed her that hard. The bruises were angry shade of purple, marring her creamy skin, and making it look like he was an animal marking his territory.

"I'm sorry."

She brushed her dress back down, along with his concerns. "Don't worry about it," she dismissed, and her smile returned, along with her arms around his neck. "It adds personality."

Six smirked. "Does this you belong to me now?"

Holiday laughed. "Only if you let me drive."

* * *

_**A/n: Well that's it! Thanks so much for reading!**_

_**Some fun facts:**_

_**1. This whole fic started with one phrase: "His hand tightened over the gear shift."**_

_**2. Pedro is the name of my uncle.**_

_**3. Correction from last chapter: Lina has informed me that the I-10 runs through Louisiana as well. I did some research...and found out that it runs from California to Florida.**_

_**4. It's sort of a running belief I have that Six's favorite part of Holiday is her legs.**_


End file.
